In short: Hopeless organisation at the start - must be improved for next year - but still a great raceIn full: It's my home race so will definitely do it again but please put the runners' village back into Queen's Square where there are several different exits to the start, allowing people to sort themselves out much more effectively. The start this year was utterly hopeless - far too many people trying to filter down one small road - surely the organisers could have anticipated this massive bottleneck? But the reversed course was great, much prefer doing the inner city wiggles at the beginning and then powering (I wish) down the Portway all the way home...Date of review: November 21, 2006

In short: Suffered from Running RageIn full: My first 1/2 Marathon. (My first anything) So nothing to compare it to. Either too many runners or badly organised start. I am led to believe that the route was a reversal of previous years races which caused bottle necking for the first 3 or 4 miles. OK I'm not an olympian and I may slow people up but found it annoying that people didn't stick to their estimated finish time group. Maybe ignorance of competitors or panic to be ready at the beginning caused me to fight my way through back markers running high up the field. Being a local Lad I will give this another go, I only hope that the organisers take on board peoples comments this year as this has the potential to be a great event. Many thanks to the youngsters at the water stations who done a good job in difficult circumstanesDate of review: November 14, 2006

In short: the start and the delay at the start was a mess. I know its the first time at that start so i hope it will improve next year. No other large race fails to start on time, this is not the first time bristol runners have been kept hanging about.Date of review: November 3, 2006

In short: Please change it back!In full: This was my 4th Bristol Half Marathon and unfortunately it was the worst. The Runners' Village was poorly organised. The slow wait to collect bags at the end of the race was not helped by placing the tents by some bushes thus creating very confusing queues. The start was very crowded and the organisers might as well have not used colour coding as there was absolutely no room to get to your allocated area. I cannot complain about achieving a slower than average time this due to lack of training but the change of course did not help. I did not feel an oppurtunity to really run freely until the Portway, partly due to the poorly organised start, but also due to narrowness of the course. At least with the old course there was only the one bottlenecking by the end of the Jury Hotel. It was also bizarre how the road was separated by tape at the beginning and felt very bemused how the left lane went up a small hill by the Watershed. The date of the race was also very early compared to previous years and so the unusual warmth came as an unwelcome surprise. However despite all these gripes the Bristol Half Marathon remains one of my favourite runs and the medal was EXCEPTIONALLY shiny (although the goody bag was comparatively mean). I will be doing for many years to come but please reinstate the previous course and Runners' Village (if only to increase my chances of a PB)!Date of review: October 23, 2006

In short: i think old timers didn"t like the start b.cos it was A CHANGEIn full: Well done bristol !! another sucess !! The start was a little "different" and a tad delayed ,but otherwise a great day . An outstanding T shirt, pre -race and a really nice medal at the finish .THankfully the goody bag was eco friendly and not full the useless tat like other races. See you next year.Date of review: October 16, 2006